Achieving governance for sustainable food system: exploring urban food governance network through a mix-method approach

The current food system faces challenges that require innovative solutions. Cities worldwide have a crucial role in addressing these challenges and need to redesign their local food system and its management. Implementing collaborative forms of governance through multi-actor and sectoral partnerships can help build sustainable systems. In this context, food movements and alternative food networks claim a new role in governance, guiding and influencing food policy implementation and governance mechanisms. The literature on governance leading to more inclusive and horizontal governance structures is still at an early stage. In addition, the role of the food movement, using power to scale up governance, needs attention. Among the various approaches used to study the governance, the network approach emerges as a comprehensive method that reveals how interactions among actors shape the social system. Therefore, this research aims to contribute to the understanding of governance transition by studying urban governance networks. This doctoral thesis achieved the following objectives: 1) to contribute to the study of power dynamics between food movements and governmental actors in the food policy process; and 2) to contribute to the analysis of what relational patterns strengthen or hinder governance transitions. The study is divided into three parts: a review of the literature on alternative food networks, a qualitative analysis of food movement mobilization and power negotiation in the food governance space of Rome and Barcelona, and an examination of collaboration between government and nongovernmental organizations in Rome using the technique of social network analysis. The findings reveal that cities are moving beyond traditional governance, promoting horizontal collaborations, a more balanced power that increases opportunities to scale food movement governance. The research provides a set of findings and approaches to help scholars and policymakers improve their understanding of multifaceted governance dynamics and develop effective strategies to achieve sustainable food governance.